Aug 6th-Aug 11th: Little Current, Ontario to Detour Village, Michigan

We are presently back in the USofA at Detour Village, Michigan.  Actually, we've been back for three days.  We left Little Current, Ontario on Aug 6th and continued on the last portion of the North Channel, anchoring in the South Benjanin Islands and Beardrop Harbor.  From there, we headed toward Sault Ste. Marie and Lake Superior.  I must admit, we did not venture very far into Lake Superior.  Basically, we went through the Canadian Lock, got the bow wet and turned around.  From Sault Ste. Marie, we have moved toward Lake Huron and stopped in Detour Village, which is about two miles from Lake Huron proper.  Sault Ste. Marie was very interesting.  Located on the St. Mary's River which separates the US and Canada, it is the gateway for the large, and I do mean large, lake freighters entering and exiting Lake Superior. There are four huge locks operated by the United States and one smaller one operated by Canada. We were able to clear American Customs in Sault Ste. Marie without any problem.  From the marina we found a restaurant that served Thai food, so Bonnie Burke got her "fix."  I hope you enjoy the pictures below.

Departing Little Current, Ontario

Anchorage in the Benjamin Islands

SONATA at anchor in the Benjamins

   

SONATA and GREAT ESCAPE at Hilton Beach Marina,
our last stop in Ontario

Hilton Beach, ON

This little guy was swimming across the channel and did quick turnaround
 when he saw GREAT ESCAPE.  We also saw deer swimming across another channel
when we did the Loop in 2007

Canadian cottage on the way to Sault Ste. Marie

Navigation light on the St. Mary's River

US cottage

This is Sault Ste. Marie with a large lake freighter waiting to enter Lake Superior
through one of the four American locks

This freighter is in one of the locks

GREAT ESCAPE entering the Canadian lock

SONATA with Charlie manning the lines in the lock.  It was not a very
nice day on the water 

This tour boat was entering the Canadian lock from Lake Superior.
We did a U-turn behind him and followed him back into the lock.

Heading back

Back inside the lock

The people on the tour boat were very friendly and wanted to discuss
our adventure.  Many pictures were taken

This was the original lock house built for the Canadians in 1897

The Canadian Lockmaster who was very helpful in allowing
us to do a quick turnaround

After we got into the marina, this huge lake freighter passed on
the way to lock through

Sault Ste. Marie Municipal Marina

Ths is the VALLY CAMP, a retired lake freighter that the city has
 turned into a museum.  Built in 1917, it operated on the lakes
for almost 50 years before it was inactivated

This and the next photo I took to try and give an idea about how long these ships
are.  Look at the tan square building neat the right hand side of the picture here
and than look where it appears in the next picture, relative to the remaining
length of the ship.

This vessel was about 1000 feet long.  The ships are built with a length and beam
(width) so that they take up every last inch in the lock

The entire ship

Sort of a unique house on the St. Mary's River as we depart
 Sault Ste. Marie

After leaving port, we caught up with this lake freighter, the
AMERICAN MARINER as it was heading in the same direction.
SONATA (42' Grand Banks) looks like a dwarf alongside

This is the bridge of the AMERICAN MARINER as we
caught up and passed

This man is on the bow, 1000 feet from the bridge, acting as a lookout
so that information can be relayed back to the bridge

Lighthouse approaching Detour Village



A couple purchased this retired lake freighter, cut the bow section off and
hauled it onto land.  They are making it into a 5000 square foot summer cottage.